Government says it is the responsibility of the East Midlands franchise to ensure trains operating on the Midland Main Line meet compliance regulations for January 1 2020.
This affects East Midlands Trains’ High Speed Train fleet. Sources have suggested to RAIL that the work required to modify the trains now cannot be achieved before the deadline.
Rail Minister Paul Maynard, in a Commons Written Reply to Alex Norris (Labour, Nottingham North) on December 6, said: “It is the responsibility for the operator of the East Midlands franchise to ensure the trains which are currently operated on the Midland Main Line meet modern accessibility standards by 2020. Any trains being introduced onto the line must also be built or modified to be compliant with those standards.”
There are eight HSTs owned by Porterbrook in traffic (a ninth is sub-leased to Virgin Trains East Coast), while three more are to transfer from Grand Central.
EMT also operates 23 Class 222 Meridians on the MML, and these already comply with disability regulations.
- Read the full story, and the latest on the MML, in RAIL 842, published today, and also available on Android/iPad.
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FrankH - 20/12/2017 23:30
And what will happen on deadline day, nothing. It will have been extended before that regardless of the huffing and puffing of the DFT.
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jak jate - 31/12/2017 17:33
So its the franchise's responsibility to source stock? thats OK then i was wondering why we,the taxpayers are paying for the rancid Class 700/800s!
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FrankH - 07/01/2018 22:18
`I thought the government ordered them.
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